A Big Investment In Little Cars - $72,000 For 1 Hot Wheel

Grants Pass, OR (PressExposure) March 20, 2009 -- Bruce Pascal, real estate broker in Washington, D.C. and toy car collector, set a new record for the highest price paid for 1 toy car, when he paid a rumored $72,000. His purchase of a Hot Wheels car set him apart from the usual collectors in the toy collecting community. The car, a "Rear Loading Beach Bomb" is considered the holy grail of the toy car collecting world. This Pink Volkswagen Bus, made in 1969 by Mattel was not released to the public with the first design version due to the fact the car would fall off the track when propelled through their "super charger". The design was too narrow, so the car had to be re-tooled in order to work with their track sets. The few dozen that were made found homes with some the Mattel employees. Pascal was able to track down several of these little gems through interviews with former employees and came across a pink one for sale that was previously not known to exist except by the owner.

Pascal has more recently set a record for the highest price received through an online sale for a toy car at $35,000 when he sold a purple version of the Beach Bomb through a website specializing in the sale of toy cars called The Toy Peddler. Bruce now has his rare, pink, Rear Loading Beach Bomb listed for sale online, and can be viewed at http://www.thetoypeddler.com in their section specializing in the higher end toys and cars called "The Vault".

Paul Biddle, owner and founder of The Toy Peddler started his online business in 1998 and quickly found a niche for collectors and dealers of toy cars. Many of the worlds most well known collectors are members of his site, which now total over 12,000 members worldwide. When asked about his success with the site and being able to help collectors such as Bruce Pascal, Biddle states "It's all about the members. We have a community that has grown over the years, but has maintained an atmosphere of friendship and trust among collectors. People like having somebody there constantly monitoring listings and sales and answering questions in a timely manner. All sellers must offer a satisfaction guarantee or they cannot sell their items through The Toy Peddler. We have been able to keep a small site feeling even though we are possibly the largest site of it's kind in the world. There is an element of trust not found in other, similar sites, and when dealing in cars that can sell for several thousand dollars, it has to be done in a place where trust and honesty come first."

Many collectors have more invested in their toy car collections than they do in their real cars or even houses! Toy cars have actually been a very wise investment over the last decade, with an average yearly increase of actualized prices at 10-15%. One of my members is an investment broker who has a firm on Broad Street in New York. He recently sold PART of his collection for several hundred thousand dollars, and made a sizeable profit." When asked about how the economy is affecting sales, Biddle states: "Collectors have to have their cars, no matter what the economy is doing. It's almost like a drug to some. It can be very addicting. Sales over the last several months have actually increased on site. This is due to some collectors liquidating parts of their collections, but it is also due to the fact there are more collectors of these little cars than ever before."